1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of content sharing and more particularly to game induced awareness of content.
2. Description of the Related Art
Content browsing refers to the retrieval and presentation of electronic content in a browser client. Content generally can include electronic documents, messages, audio, audiovisual and video materials and imagery. Most commonly, content can be stored in a server environment and published for access by content consumers over a computer communications network such as the global Internet. Content consumers, in turn, can retrieve content over the network by reference to a network address for the content. Once retrieved, the content can be presented in a browser client including not only conventional visual browsers such as the venerable Web browser, but also in alternative browsers such as those deployed in pervasive devices and those supporting different modes of presentation such as the audible presentation of material.
Given the vast amount of content published for retrieval over the Internet, modern content browsers provide a mechanism for ably retrieving previously accessed content. Known as a “bookmark” or “favorite” (collectively referred to as a bookmark), end users can record content of interest as a bookmark. Subsequently, end users can access a list of bookmarks in order to recall the content of interest without being compelled to recall from memory the precise uniform resource indicator (URI) for the content of interest.
While bookmarking reflects the personal experience of individual users, social bookmarking provides a foundation for users within a social group to store, organize, share and search the bookmarks collectively established by the users within the social group. In the operation of a social bookmarking system, users save links to memorable content. Unlike traditional bookmarks however, in a social bookmarking system the links subsequently can be published for public inspection and use so as to provide a communal repository of bookmarks. Consequently, groups of the users can access the links encapsulated within respective social bookmarks, though the groups of users in fact may never have viewed the associated content—a prerequisite for a traditional bookmark.
Social bookmarking services often encourage users in a social network to annotate bookmarks with meta-information referred to as “tags” rather than merely storing bookmarks in a traditional file hierarchy. As such, users processing tags for a social bookmark can view the social bookmark for content along with the tag pertaining to the bookmark, for instance if a number of users having bookmarked the content. Further, some social bookmarking services infer clusters of bookmarks from the relationship of corresponding tags. Finally, many social bookmarking services provide subscription based feeds for lists of bookmarks, including lists organized by tags. Consequently, subscribers can become aware of new bookmarks as the bookmarks are saved, shared, and tagged by other users.
Despite the promise of social bookmarking, content oftentimes fails to enjoy the benefits of social bookmarking While social bookmarking implicitly provides a recommendation to share access to content—particularly in an automated fashion where users in a social network share common interests and pursuits—users of interest either can be omitted from an express notification of content of interest where those common interests and pursuits are not apparent to an automated social bookmarking system, or users of interest can reside outside of one's social network so as to lack the ability to obtain an awareness of relevant content.
Of course, one can expressly bring content of interest to the attention of a relevant user. For example, the well known social bookmarking technology, “del.icio.us” provides a mechanism for targeting a specific user to share a bookmark to content. Of note, depending upon the express recommendation of content is highly personal and enjoys the advantage of personal knowledge of end user interest and pursuits, even as those interests and pursuits change over time. However, requiring the end user to explicitly recommend content to users who are known to share common interests and pursuits can be tedious and requires the proactive involvement of the recommender without incentive.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to social bookmarking and provide a novel and non-obvious method, system and computer program product for generating content recommendations from an online game. In an embodiment of the invention, a content recommendation method can be provided. The method can include retrieving contacts for a player of a content recommendation game and listing content associated with the retrieved contacts. The method also can include prompting the player in response to a selection of a particular one of the listed content to identify a specific one of the retrieved contacts as a source associated with the particular one of the listed content.
Finally, the method can include recommending to the identified specific one of the retrieved contacts including a link to the particular one of the listed content when the player has incorrectly identified the specific one of the retrieved contacts as a source associated with the particular one of the listed content, and otherwise awarding points in the game to a game score for the player for having correctly identified the specific one of the retrieved contacts as a source associated with the particular one of the listed content. In one aspect of the embodiment, the player can be prompted in response to a selection of a particular one of the listed content to identify a specific one of the retrieved contacts as a source associated with the particular one of the listed content within a threshold period of time. Consequently, the method also can include deducting points from the game score when the player fails to respond to the prompting within the threshold period of time.
In another embodiment of the invention, a social media data processing system can be configured for generating content recommendations from an online game. The system can include a host computing platform configured for communicative coupling to multiple different clients over a computer communications network. Each of the clients can include a browser providing access to interact with content and corresponding meta-data for the content. The system also can include a social bookmarking system coupled to the host computing platform managing tags applied through the clients to content viewed within respective ones of the browsers. Finally, the system can include a content recommendation game executing in the host computing platform.
The game can include program code enabled to retrieve contacts for a player of the game, to list content associated with the retrieved contacts, to prompt the player in response to a selection of a particular one of the listed content to identify a specific one of the retrieved contacts as a source associated with the particular one of the listed content, and to recommend to the identified specific one of the retrieved contacts the particular one of the listed content, including a link to the particular one of the listed content, when the player has incorrectly identified the specific one of the retrieved contacts as a source associated with the particular one of the listed content, and otherwise to award points in the game to a game score for the player for having correctly identified the specific one of the retrieved contacts as a source associated with the particular one of the listed content.
Additional aspects of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The aspects of the invention will be realized and attained by means of the elements and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only and are not restrictive of the invention, as claimed.